HUD AWARDS $132 MILLION TO FIVE COMMUNITIES TO REVITALIZE HOUSING, SURROUNDING NEIGHBORHOODS

Federal investments expected to generate billions more in neighborhood reinvestment

WASHINGTON – (RealEstateRama) — U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julián Castro today announced that five communities across the U.S. will receive more than a combined $132 million to redevelop severely distressed public or assisted housing and revitalize surrounding neighborhoods. During a press conference and tour of one such neighborhood in St. Louis with Mayor Francis G. Slay, Secretary Castro announced the following communities will receive grants awarded through HUD’s Choice Neighborhoods Initiative: Denver; Louisville, Kentucky; Boston; St. Louis; and Camden, New Jersey.

The Choice Neighborhoods Initiative is part of the Administration’s drive to reinvest in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty by revitalizing distressed federally supported housing into sustainable, mixed-income housing with access to transit, better schools and jobs.

“These game-changing investments will breathe new life into distressed neighborhoods and offer real opportunities for the families who call these communities home,” Castro said. “What we do today will leverage private investment and bear fruit for generations of families looking for an opportunity to thrive in neighborhoods that are connected to the economic and social fabric of their communities.”

The five awardees will replace 1,853 severely distressed public housing units with nearly 3,700 new mixed-income, mixed-use housing units as part of an overall effort to revitalize neighborhoods. For every $1 in Choice Neighborhoods funding they receive, the awardees and their partners will leverage an additional $5 in public and private funding for their project proposals. Together, these five awardees are leveraging $636 million through other public/private sources and expect to stimulate another $3.3 billion indirectly to magnify their impact. The five award recipients are also past Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant recipients. After a two-year planning process, today’s award announcement provides funding to make each community’s vision a reality.

HUD received 34 applications for the FY2016 Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grants. The following communities will receive grant funding:

State

Awardee/Co-Awardee

City

Amount

Colorado

Housing Authority of the City and County of Denver & the City and County of Denver

Choice Neighborhoods build on the successes of HUD’s HOPE VI Program, linking housing improvements with a wide variety of public services and neighborhood improvements to create neighborhoods of opportunity. With today’s announcement, HUD has awarded more than $633 million in Choice Implementation Grants since 2011. Choice Neighborhoods is focused on three core goals:

Housing: Replace distressed public and assisted housing with high-quality mixed-income housing that is well-managed and responsive to the needs of the surrounding neighborhood;

People: Improve educational outcomes and intergenerational mobility for youth with services and supports delivered directly to youth and their families; and

Neighborhood: Create the conditions necessary for public and private reinvestment in distressed neighborhoods to offer the kinds of amenities and assets, including safety, good schools, and commercial activity, that are important to families’ choices about their community.

Choice Neighborhoods is HUD’s signature place-based program, which supports innovative and inclusive strategies that bring public and private partners together to help break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. The program also encourages collaboration between HUD and the Departments of Education, Justice, Treasury and Health and Human Services to support local solutions for sustainable, mixed-income neighborhoods with the affordable housing, safe streets and good schools all families need.

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HUD’s mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all.
More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet
at www.hud.gov and http://espanol.hud.gov.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is the nation’s housing agency committed to increasing homeownership, particularly among minorities; creating affordable housing opportunities for low-income Americans; and supporting the homeless, elderly, people with disabilities and people living with AIDS. The Department also promotes economic and community development, and enforces the nation’s fair housing laws.

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